Food Safety While Traveling
Traveling for races can be a great experience when prepared for in advance. Give yourself the week before leaving to pack all the necessary supplies, and remember any initially forgotten items. Unfortunately, most of us forget to include nutrition and food-preparation items during this process. Leaving it to the last minute and arriving unprepared only escalates stress levels, reduces the immune system, and increases the chance of sickness and food borne illness. When food hygiene standards, sanitation, and water quality are questionable- take all precautions necessary to protect yourself!

Organize Ahead:

~ Know your training and race schedule to plan meals and snacks accordingly. Know your lodging and meal situation- are they supplied for you? If so, what hours/times are the meals available? Or do you need to make meals on your own?

~ Pre-plan your meals and snacks for the travel to site, during site, and the return home

~ Contact the airlines to select healthy airline meals for the plane trip, but bring your own food too.

~ When flying- check with the airlines or security about what foods passengers are unable to bring onto the flight (ex. Liquids, yogurt, fresh fruits and vegetables with seeds).

~ Research restaurants and grocery stores/markets in the area you are staying where you can buy bottled water and fresh foods if needed.

Inspire your friends, family and community by sharing your story online in a meaningful way.
You probably get asked how things are going with cycling all the time by family, friends and maybe even fans. You can be a professional rider or a weekend warrior, either way, your entourage wants to know how training is going or when is your next big race. Furthermore, fans and followers want to get a glimpse at your athlete lifestyle.

As you grow in your sport, more and more people want to stay informed and keeping everybody in the loop can become a time consuming and complex task. You may even be at a point where you need to give exposure to your personal and team sponsors or attempt to attract new ones.

Here’s how you can craft an online presence that will help you share your story and grow your fan base with little efforts.

Choosing the Right Mediums

First you need to choose which medium works best for you. Some prefer to write blogs, others will opt to share their lifestyle in pictures using Instagram or with tweets.

I personally use Instagram to share my athlete lifestyle and blogs to keep my friends, family and supporters in the loop. Leah Kirchmann for example is also leveraging her Facebook fan page to keep everybody in the loop.

In the end, it really comes down to making storytelling an habit. Pick whichever mediums (blogging, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, etc.) that feel the most natural for you to share your lifestyle.

Build the Foundation of your Online Presence

Now that you are sharing content across the web and on various social networks, you need a home for it. Given that your pieces of content (tweets and instagrams for example) reside [...]